Agenda and minutes

David Loades placed on record his involvement with the Loggerheads Library Support Group (see minute 3below).

RESOLVED - That, with an amendment to minute 39 clarifying that voting on SACRE is undertaken on a committee basis, the minutes of the meeting held on 6 March 2015 be confirmed and signed by the Chairman.

Report of the Cabinet Member, Children and Community Safety

The way in which people access information and reading has changed and continues to evolve. Since 2008 Staffordshire Library Service had changed the way it is both delivered and managed to reflect this and has delivered £1.1million of savings.

As part of the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) 2015-2018 review, further savings of £350,000 had been identified to be made from the Mobile and Travelling Library Service.

Members were informed that a small percentage of the Staffordshire population were members of the Mobile and Travelling Library Service, there being 13,000 members during 2013/14 (1.5% of the population). During that period 5,600 members borrowed from the service (0.66% of the population) with mobile and travelling libraries generating 6.4% of Staffordshire issues. In 2013/14 visits to mobile and travelling libraries was 2.7% of total visits to all Staffordshire libraries. As with static libraries use of mobile and travelling libraries had fallen consistently over a ten year period, with visits declining by 7.5% in the last four years. During this same period mobile libraries reached 350 communities, making over 800 individual stops.

The Select Committee heard that it cost £652,303 per year to run the mobile library service. Comparative costs per visit showed that it cost £7 to use the mobile library service whilst costing £2.26 to visit a static library.

Members received details of the current mobile library stops, the proposed new library stops and the set of principles that had been developed to inform future planning of mobile routes. Members were also made aware that there could be costs associated with reducing the service.

A letter had been received from Claire Geoghegan on behalf of Friends of Penkridge Library, raising a number of concerns which Janene Cox, Commissioner for Tourism and the Cultural County, answered as follows:

·         Concerns over consultation on the opening hours of five static libraries, Burton, Lichfield, Newcastle, Tamworth and Penkridge, querying why there was no mention of this within the proposed consultation on the mobile library service Select Committee paper. Approval had already been granted separately to consult on opening hours at these libraries at the February Cabinet. The report under consideration today was looking specifically at a request to consult on the mobile and travelling library service;

·         Concerns over the length and timing of the proposed consultation, feeling that undertaking this process during the summer months would preclude those on holiday from taking part in the process and that the consultation should be longer than nine weeks. The summer is the service’s busiest time, attracting its highest number of users, particularly new and young users, during this period. The Service had been advised that eight weeks was sufficient for the consultation period, however a nine week period had been chosen as this covered three mobile library loan periods, allowing those using the service three opportunities to take part in the process through their mobile library. The consultation would also be available on line.

Members felt the two consultations, (both the static library opening hours consultation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Report of the Cabinet Member, Economy, Environment and Transport

Staffordshire is uniquely placed at the centre of the country’s rail network, located on key transport arteries and corridors giving easy access to large economic centres. The West Coast Mainline (WCML) runs north to south throughout the county providing frequent connections to London, Manchester and Liverpool. Staffordshire’s rail network also plays an important role in the movement of freight, being located at the centre of important regional and national routes with good connections to a number of freight terminals. The most important freight route for Staffordshire is WCML, one of the country’s principal routes with over 50 freight trains operating along it per day in each direction.

The County Council was also a member of the North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnership which worked to promote and develop the Crewe-Derby route and was also known as the North Staffordshire Line.

Rail played an important part in facilitating economic growth and had a vital role in Staffordshire’s economic competitiveness and wellbeing. Many opportunities around rail were emerging within Staffordshire at the current time and it was essential that Staffordshire maximised the potential benefits these opportunities might bring.

There was a recognition that the industry was disparate and that the County Council had no significant resources to invest directly into rail. The Council therefore worked to influence planning and investment in the rail network. To assist with this a rail strategy was essential to effectively influence the future of rail use in the County. Members heard how the strategy had been developed and influenced by both the Rail Summit and a rail survey. Once the final document had been produced the Strategy would contain Staffordshire’s aspirations and requests and would be used as a lobbying document with Government and the rail industry.

The Strategy had therefore been established to:

·        Provide a sound basis to effectively respond to national consultations including re-franchising;

·        Provide a clear set of priorities to enable available investment opportunities to be maximised;

·        Take advantage of any emerging opportunities such as entrepreneurial private enterprise and open access opportunities;

·        Help shape the devolution proposals for West Midlands Rail and Rail North, providing greater accountability and decision-making in relation to local rail services;

·        Help shape the industry’s Long term Planning Process for future investment in the rail network;

·        Help provide the best possible opportunities to gain access to the existing and future National and European High Speed Passenger Network; and

·        Help plan for the best use of released capacity on the classic network upon completion of HS2.

The Select Committee received details of the way in which the Staffordshire Rail Strategy would integrate with, and influence, wider policy and strategy, supporting the securement of greater investment and economic growth in Staffordshire. It also outlined the vision and objectives, considering the importance of: rail on economic growth; passenger and freight services; HS2 and local connectivity; and, articulating priorities for investment, both long and short term, and their delivery.

Members remained concerned over the impact of HS2 on Staffordshire. The Cabinet Member, Economy, Environment and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Report of the Cabinet Member, Economy, Environment and Transport

The Select Committee received a presentation on the Economy of Staffordshire, Right for Business, More and Better Jobs.

In common with most parts of Britain, Staffordshire’s economy had changed substantially over recent years. This economic restructuring had been significantly exacerbated by the recession of the late 2000’s which led to a fundamental shift away from public sector employment growth and a renewed focus on strengthening employment in the private sector. Although Staffordshire had maintained a strong manufacturing base, part of this was characterised by a reliance on sectors that had been particularly vulnerable to the recession.

Since the peak of the recession the County Council has had a clear focus on providing the right conditions to allow Staffordshire people to access employment opportunities. 13 employment sites have been identified in the Stoke-on-Trent and  Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership Strategic Economic Plan, which between them have the potential to attract around 27,000 jobs in the area. The total number of jobs within the County had now broadly recovered to pre-recession levels. From a low of 365,000 jobs in 2011, there are currently around 383,000 jobs in Staffordshire.

Staffordshire now has one of the lowest Job Seeker Allowance (JSA) rates nationally. From a peak of 20,555 JSA claimants in April 2009 (3.8% of the working age population), there were currently 5,432 claimants in Staffordshire (1.0%).  JSA claimant rates were highest in Cannock Chase at 1.4%, however no Staffordshire district recorded a rate above the 1.9% Great Britain rate.

The Keele University Science and Business Park was raised with Members as an example of the Council working in partnership to create the right conditions for growth. This enterprise had originally been conceived in 1987 and was considered to be one of the leading developments of its kind, targeting innovation medical and high-technology businesses. The site was home to around 900 jobs with companies such as Navman, Cobra Biologics and Biocomposites.  Members were particularly pleased to note that every job at the site was taken by a resident from Staffordshire or Stoke-on-Trent, with almost 60% from Newcastle-under-Lyme alone. Almost 80% of people working at the site had at least a NVQ level 3 qualification. There remained significant room for expansion at the site following an £8.4m investment from AWM in 2007 to open up the 70 acre phase 3 extension.

The County Council was working in partnership with Keele University to bring forward a new development at the site, “IC5” which broke ground in May 2015. The development would create 30,000 sq. ft. of additional office and workshop accommodation, and had the potential to create 130 jobs from businesses looking to invest in Staffordshire, and local businesses looking to expand.

Rebalancing Staffordshire’s economy towards a larger and more productive private sector was key. Since 2011 Staffordshire had seen a decrease of approximately 8,700 jobs in the public sector compared to an additional 13,100 employee jobs in the private sector. Members understood that the establishment of Entrust accounted for a proportion of this change.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

Report of the Scrutiny and Support Manager

The Select Committee considered their work programme planning for 2014/15 and their draft work programme which included carry over items from last year and a number of suggested new items.

A range of working group activity was also included for their consideration and Members agreed:

·        that Mike Worthington be their representative on the Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health Services Working Group following a request from the Chairman of the Healthy Staffordshire Select Committee for a representative from the Prosperous Staffordshire Select Committee to join this working group;

·        that Simon Tagg, David Loades and Ian Hollinshead be the members for the Infrastructure+ Working Group, considering the type of performance information the Select Committee will wish to scrutinise and within what time scale; and,

·        that Tim Corbett, Geoff Martin and Martyn Tittley be members of the working group to consider heavy goods vehicles on the A515 following the presentation of a petition at full Council. An email would be sent to Select Committee Members following this meeting, asking if they wished to join this group.

Members were reminded that they could raise any issues for inclusion on the work programme either with the Chairman or Scrutiny Manager.

RESOLVED – That the draft work programme be accepted and that working group representation be as outlined above.